President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” – which he on Thursday dubbed the “ultimate codification” of the MAGA agenda – is a paradox that shows how power works in a broken political system in which he’s the single greatest force.

As it stumbles through the Senate, the bill – which extends vast tax cuts, hikes border security funding and includes historic cuts to Medicaid – is perpetually on life support as chunks keep getting culled to fit the chamber’s budgetary rules.

Growing numbers of Republican lawmakers required to pass the measure hate it.

The public doesn’t want it – according to a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month, voters oppose the measure by 53% to 27%. The survey is no outlier.

Who can really say what is left in the bill after days of Senate wrangling? It’s barely recognizable from the one the House passed. That’s trouble for Speaker Mike Johnson, who is under great pressure to get whatever the Senate produces back through the House before Trump’s July Fourth deadline.